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Monthly Archives: December 2018

A "SMART" implant that delivers drugs to targeted parts of the body and controls how quickly they are released into the bloodstream has been developed by Australian scientists.

Experts in nanomedicine at the University of Wollongong say the implants could remove the need for the electronics used in artificial pacemakers and cochlear implants and could revolutionise the way drugs are circulated around the body.

Dubbed "biobatteries", the smart implants build on technology already developed by the university’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute to create a bioabsorbable stent for use in cardiac patients.

The current generation of stents are made of metal and coated with a tiny dose of a drug that slowly dissolves. The implant is permanent, has a raft of side-effects and makes it difficult to control how quickly the payload is released.

In contrast, the new biodegradable stents, which are made of magnesium alloy, gradually corrode away inside the body, producing an electrical signal that expels the drug from the polymer structure.

The director of the institute, Professor Gordon Wallace, said as the magnesium oxidises, the resulting current reverses the electrostatic charges holding the drug molecules to the stent, releasing it into the bloodstream.

To control the rate of drug delivery, the team coated the magnesium alloy with an "intelligent" biodegradable polymer that slowed its corrosion.

At a medical bionics meeting in Victoria last month, Professor Wallace said the technology could be used in any implant that corrodes, such as titanium hip joints, New Scientist reported.

"Any metal implant will undergo some corrosion when it’s put in the body and this is a new way of harnessing the electricity that comes from the corrosion," he said.

Eventually, the technology could be used to create the electromaterials required to drive bionic eyes, pacemakers, artificial muscles and nerve repairs, removing the need for an external power source.

A spokesman for the Cardiac Society, Associate Professor Andrew MacIsaac, said biodegradable stents would not only reduce the drawbacks and serious side-effects seen in permanent metallic stents, but the gradual release of anti-inflammatory medications could help prevent clotting or damage to the surrounding tissue.

VITAL council services could be cut because energy companies want to dramatically increase the cost of providing public lighting.

Light poles, cables and bulbs that keep NSW streets lit at night are supplied and maintained by Energy Australia, Integral Energy and Country Energy.

Energy Australia has approached the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to increase the cost of providing public lighting costs by 11 per cent in July next year and by 40 per cent in 2014.

The costs, which can run into millions of dollars each year for councils, are ultimately borne by ratepayers. However, councils using Energy Australia’s public lighting say the increase could be as much as 67per cent in 2014.

These councils, which represent about 3.2 million people in parts of Sydney, the Hunter Valley and the Illawarra, spend a combined $42 million a year on public lighting.

An increase of between 40 per cent and 67 per cent would lead to total costs blowing out by between $17 million and $28 million a year.

Because the Local Government Minister sets councils’ rate increases each year – usually less than 4 per cent – it is unlikely the increased public lighting costs could be incorporated into rates.

"These increases that are being foisted upon us – the only response councils can have is to reduce services to the community," said David Lewis, the general manager of the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, which represents 15 councils and is leading the campaign against the price rises.

"It could be anything – a few library books, less maintenance on playing fields, decreased service levels in community support."

An Energy Australia spokesman said it was currently subsidising street lighting to councils by about $1.7 million a year. The proposed increased costs would better reflect the real value of the service, he said.

Integral Energy and Country Energy have also sought to increase their charges. The regulator has asked all three companies to resubmit their proposed cost increases by early next year.

"In the end, it is up to the independent umpire – the AER – to make the decision about the fair cost of street lighting services over the next five years," the Energy Australia spokesman said.

VOTERS have given the first 100 days of Nathan Rees’s premiership the thumbs down.

Mr Rees had promised he would give the leadership of NSW "a red-hot go". But his efforts have received a response best described as lukewarm.

In an informal poll of 730 readers, 39 per cent rated his performance as satisfactory. A further 33 per cent described his time as leader as poor.

Mr Rees has been dogged by the dumping of ministers Tony Stewart and Matt Brown, the messy departure from politics of Reba Meagher, the Ryde byelection loss, fallout over public transport, and negative reaction to the November mini-budget.

This period of time has failed to impress the readers randomly sampled over a two-day period last week.

About 62 per cent believed the economic measures undertaken by the ALP Government would fail to restore the state’s flagging fortunes.

Asked who would be the better economic manager, 9 per cent nominated the Rees-led Labor Government. However, only 31 per cent said Barry O’Farrell would make a better premier and only 36 per cent warmed to the promise of his economic rule.

Fifty-four per cent said neither man was suited to be premier. But Mr Rees was upbeat yesterday when presented with the poll results.

"I’ve certainly physically and intellectually given everything I could have given and that won’t stop c" he said.

"The key decisions for me are the universal eyesight testing for four-year-olds so that we can pick up problems, that’s a key one; $56 million for new commuter car parks around the city; 630 new selective high-school places for rural students; scholarships for apprentices; $3000 boost for first-home buyers; 80 specialist teachers to help kids with autism; $150 million for school security and toilet blocks; 700 new train carriages and hundreds of new buses; $56 billion worth of infrastructure that will underpin 150,000 jobs each year as together we work for this state.

"This is a period of international instability. It’s my job as well as business leaders’ to look the rest of the world in the eye and say: ‘NSW is the greatest state in the world."’

Mr O’Farrell described the Premier’s first 100 days as "confusing".

"I don’t think a lot has changed from his predecessors," he said yesterday. "He still leads a Government focused on Macquarie Street and winning the next election and not on the needs or interests of families in Macquarie Fields or Port Macquarie.

"He promised improved services and cuts rail links to the north-west and south-west. Other services continue to be cut. It’s a third-generation Labor Government and I don’t think the state’s getting value.

"From the moment I was elected leader, the constant message to the party room is that every week must be a week where we demonstrate competency to the electorate.

"In 2007 we failed to give them a party or Coalition that they could vote for c We have proved ourselves effective at holding the Government to account and showing ourselves to be a united team. I think Nathan Rees has added ‘red-hot go’ to the lexicon of political language in NSW but c I think it’s ice-cold." THE HIGHS ¡ October Premier announces a $4billion CBD metro line from Central Station to Rozelle.

¡ October Premier gets tough on alcohol-related violence in pubs.

¡ October Launch of Master Events calendar – five "anchor events" held each year.

¡ October $99million medical research and education centre opens at Royal North Shore Hospital.

¡ November Public school pupils to get a laptop to keep. THE LOWS

¡ September Police minister Matt Brown dumped after drunkenly dancing in his underpants.

A MAN hailed for his bravery after rescuing a drowning Korean student found the adulation shortlived after ending up in a police cell days later.

Daniel Raymond McVey, 26, was featured on the front page of his home town’s newspaper, portrayed as a reluctant hero two weeks ago.

Days later the rescuer earned a different kind of fame after appearing in Coffs Harbour Local Court, where police unsuccessfully sought to have bail refused. His alleged crime: possessing a taser inside the popular Pier Hotel, where a mate allegedly discharged the electric shock weapon.

It was a very different story earlier in the week, when police were considering McVey for a bravery award nomination.

Of the rescue, McVey told The Coffs Coast Advocate he broke from enjoying a builders’ picnic day to rescue the woman.

She had entered Coffs Creek and was struggling. By the time he reached the student she was lapsing in and out of consciousness.

"I got to her and put her on her side as I swam her to the edge of the creek," he said. "I got her to the edge and had help from bystanders to drag her up. They had already rung the ambulance."

McVey began to clear the woman’s airways and placed her in the recovery position. "A nurse came and took over. I was stuffed," he said.

Four nights later, on Friday, December 5, police arrested the local hero and a 23-year-old man and seized a taser after it was allegedly discharged inside the Pier Hotel.

Police were called in response to reports that a man had activated a taser in the building, then had allegedly threatened a woman on the street, between 9pm and 9.30pm.

McVey and the other man were found in nearby Collingwood Street a short time later. They allegedly ran into a unit but were arrested after capsicum spray was used to subdue them.

Police will allege a taser was located during a search of the unit. The men were taken to Coffs Harbour police station, where they were charged.

McVey has been charged with possession and use of a prohibited weapon and resisting arrest.

The 23-year-old man was charged with indecent assault, possession of a prohibited weapon, use of a prohibited weapon and resisting arrest.

The men, both from Coffs Harbour, were granted bail to appear in court again on January 12.

AFTER a year of historic price highs, raw oil now costs less than bottled water.

Australians have cut back their petrol consumption by 6000 barrels a month, pushing prices down to their lowest since early 2004.

World oil was trading at $US43 ($65) a barrel during last week, now closing in on its long-term average range of $US25 to $US35 a barrel, adjusted to inflation, not seen in almost half a decade.

With 158 litres to a barrel of oil, the raw product has dropped below the price of the cheapest bottled water – a 12-litre bottle of Northbrook water retailing for $4.99 at Aldi – 41cents compared to 42 cents a litre.

Figures from the International Energy Agency show that demand for petrol products in Australia has been falling since January, as high interest rates and high living costs began to take their effect.

The most recent figures for October, show demand has fallen to about 327,000 barrels a month, down from 333,000 barrels in January.

CSIRO modelling estimated that if oil prices were sustained at $US100 a barrel it would have restricted economic growth by 3 per cent – knocking Australia firmly into recession territory – relative to prices at $US35 a barrel.

The fall in consumption has been a short-term boon for the environment but it has come at the expense of the fledgling biofuels industry.

Paul Graham, a senior adviser in the CSIRO’s Energy Futures project, estimated that the sharp price rises resulted in a de facto carbon price of upwards of $200 a tonne, much larger than the $23 to $32 range that Treasury has predicted for the introduction of trading in mid-2010.

"All the movements in the oil prices are much larger than the future carbon price," he said. "When you see a rise of upwards of 50 per cent [in petrol prices], that is obviously quite substantial. We know that kilometres travelled did flatten out as that began to take effect."

The CSIRO has predicted that pure unleaded petrol products by 2030 will be almost entirely replaced with ethanol blends and diesel vehicles that can achieve greater fuel efficiencies.

But Mr Graham said that move will be delayed – at least in the short-term – as oil prices continue to fall.

"Certainly expectations of future prices play a big role and there’s a big dip since the financial crisis has unfolded," he said. "But a lot of these [forecasts] are long-term and business, too, will take a long view.

"At the moment, the risk for major investment in alternative fuel products is very high so low prices would tend to delay those investments while there is volatility."

Bruce Harrison, chief executive of Biofuels Association of Australia, said the price falls have put a huge strain on refining margins just as the industry attempts to boost production by more than 20 per cent to 245million litres a year.

"Certainly the fall in oil prices makes it harder for every one in the industry. Everyone’s margins are down," he said. "Our view is that the world economy starts to pick up, demand will pick up."

But experts have warned that the price falls may be short lived. The US Energy Information Administration predicted prices to stabilise at around $US63 throughout 2009.